[OPEN] a penny for your thoughts ;;

[Riley [W a l k e r]]

The young woman sat at one of the out door tables with the little umbrellas over it to keep the sunshine from burning a person up. Although Riley really wouldn't have minded. She liked the heat. But oh well. The shade was nice, too. She sipped easily at a Frappucino, a purple leash trailing from her wrist to disappear under the table, where it hooked to the collar of a red merle Australian Shepherd who lay in the shade of the table, just by his owner's feet.

"Atta boy, Banjo" the black haired young woman murmured. The do glifted his head to gaze at her, whining pathetically, clearly sick of lieing down. He was one of those high-activity dogs who always felt the need to be doing something, anything at all, really, other than just laying around. He was a good dog for Riley, who was much the same way. A very active, busy, bubbly, vivacious person, always here doing this or there doing that. Never without something to do, and, on those rare occasions when she actually didn have anything to do, she found something to do. There was never nothing to do. Ever ever ever.

She heaved a sigh, leaning back in the chair and crossing her legs, her foot bouncing to some random melody or beat that played itself in her head. One could never be too sure just what as going through Riley's head. SHe was one of those random, burst out with something totally off the awll, sort of people.

The dark haired young woman heaved a sigh. For once, she was bored. and she didn't like being bored. Which was why she tended to keep herself busy. But today, on a Saturday of all days, she was bored out of her mind. Currently going through her mind was various ways to keep herself entertained. If there as something she hated, it was being bored. She liked being busy! Running around like a chicken with her head cut off was great. Anything to avoid boredom. And yet, try as she might, there was always those days when one was bored. And this was one of those days.

She heaved a small sigh, taking another sip of the Vanilla Bean Frappucino. The dog seemed to heave a small sigh and settle his head on his paws again, his tongue lolling out slightly as he began to pant in the heat. The thick coated Aussie wasn't exactly bred for California heat, but he didn't seem to mind too terribly much. Not that RIley could read his thoughts or anything, btu he was just a happy dog by nature. She smiled slightly at the thought. M uch as she herself was a happy person. The whole depression, cutting thing was over rated, if she did say so herself. She definitely liked being alive. Not to mention she didn't actually have the guts to hurt herself. Besides, being happy was nice. Definitely the better alternitive.

She heaved a sigh, her brown eyed gaze turning distant as her thoughts began to wander, ambling along from one idea to the next, never really latching on to one before the thought slipped away...

[` ASTRID MARCH]

`` WAKE UP, WAKE UP
ON A SATURDAY NIGHT

A young woman watched people pass by her on the side walk as she made her way along it, her destination : Starbucks. It was Saturday afternoon, nearly three o'clock, but she'd only rolled out of bed about a half hour ago. She hadn't even showered yet, not that anyone could tell. It wasn't as if she stunk or something. Only she was to know that she wasn't squeaky clean and to be quite honest she really didn't care. It was Saturday, it was a lazy day and on lazy days you didn't HAVE to shower, everybody knew that.

The green Starbucks logo came into view and a smile spread the gloss covered lips of the woman. She breathed in deeply, relieved to see the sign, relieved to know that she was only minutes away from the caffeine that she longed for. Not only did she long for it but she needed it, her body was going nuts with out it. After a long night of partying and not very much sleep it only made sense that she'd be in desperate need of a breve. Pace quickened as she neared the Starbucks and the sound of her flip flopping flip flops only increased with each faster step that she took. Flop, Flop, Flip, Flop, Flip, Flop. It was only a minute after the sign came into view that she was standing at the double glass doors of the building. She smiled a little bit, pulling one open before slipping inside.

It seemed to take far too long to make the requested six shot vente vanilla breve latte but in all acuality was only a couple of minutes before it landed in the hands of the girl that craved it so. A grin spread her lips and slowly she raised the white lid to her mouth, parting her lips, tipping the cup, eyes closing as the hot liquid goodness entered her mouth. She swallowed, able to feel the warmth slide down her throat. It was amazing, it was exactly what she'd needed, at this point in time this cup of coffee was better then sex and that was saying something.

With the excitement over coffee ended, the woman let her eyes wander the shop. A older man sat in a comfortable looking chair in the corner, his hair was gray and round spectacles sat on his face. He held a book in his hands and seemed to be very intent on it. She smiled a little bit and shrugged, she would have been more then willing to waltz over there and start conversation with him but she thought it rude to interrupt one that seemed to be oh so enjoying their book. Eyes darted to the other end of the Starbucks only to find a teenage blond sitting at one of the tables. She looked no older then sixteen or seventeen and she stared intently on her computer screen which was currently open to myspace. She sighed a little bit, bringing the cup to her lips again. It seemed as if everyone was wrapped up in something, seemed as if there would be no one to talk to.

Outside, sitting at one of the tables sat a girl, her hair as black as a raven's feathers. Eyes locked onto her, looking her over. She seemed to be up to nothing other then sitting there, in fact she looked rather bored. That would never do now would it? She shook her head and started towards the double doors, her shoes beginning again flop, flop, flip, flop... The woman slipped out of the Starbucks, tucking a blue dreadfall behind her pierced ear. She wandered over and with out a word sat herself down in the chair across the other young woman. Setting her cup down on the table top she smiled, "I'm Astrid" she said, introducing herself. She sat back in the chair, gazing at the other, waiting for her to introduce herself in return.

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word count: 658

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[Riley [W a l k e r]]

The girl glanced up, slightly surprised, as some chick settled herself into the chair across from her .Banjo, the dog, quickly jumped up, getting out from beneath the table before the girl who had introduced herself as Astrid could rudely step on him. People tended to do that when he was lieing under the table, and he didn't much like it. Not at all. So he was rather wary and mistrustful in that category. Riley found herself smiling mildly at the other girl. Now here looked like someone who could kee pher entertained.

Riley she responded brightly. The dog sat at his mistress's side now, and plopped his head pathetically in her lap and whining slightly. Oh, I know, I know, she told the dog with a shake of her head. Must we always be doing something? she asked, and the dog's tail wagged, swishing across the concrete and sending dirt and dust skittering down the sidewalk. Riley shook her head in response.

Are those real? the dark haired woman asked curiously, clearly meaning the blue dreadlocks. Her brown eyes sparkled. 'Cuz they're basically amazing She laughed, a sweet, high sound.

Riley wasn't exactly the type of person to fill the image she wore, with facial piercings and the black hair. But she was hardly ever what people expected. She was sweeter than a lot of people, and while she partied....Kind of sort of a lot, generally speaking she wasn't a complete skank bag....Unless she was unbelievably drunk. Which wasn't exactly infrequent...Not really frequent though, either. SHe was jsut one of those in between people. Neither goody-two-shoes angel or bad ass devel. Just somewhere in between. And she tended to care about people a lot more than was good for her. She was definitely a people person above all else.

She glanced down at the dog who still had his head in her lapand shook her own head with mild amusement. You're pathetic, have I ever told you that? The do glifted his head and sneezed. It was funny how the dog tended to respond to almost everything she said to him, as if he could understand. He had an almost disgruntled look on his face that suggested she had told him he was pathetic, more time than he would like to count. It was hard to believe, sometimes, that he was just a dog, perhaps a very very smart dog, but a dog none the less. Hard to believe he didn't actually understand what was said. Riley knew he didn't, though...But then there were those occasions that really made her wonder if he did understand or if it was just her going crazy...She wasn't too sure she liked either option, and those occasions were rare, but she avoided thinking about them whenever they did come up, as they had now. She turned her attention back to Astrid, the corners of her mouth tight, almost turned up, as if she were almost smiling. In a ways, she was. RIley was the sort of girl who was kind of always wearing a perpetual smile, it seemed...

[` ASTRID MARCH]

`` WAKE UP, WAKE UP
ON A SATURDAY NIGHT

Astrid sat back in the chair as a smile spread the lips of the black haired girl and she knew that she hadn't intruded too much. Riley was the girls name, or at least the name she felt like going by. Astrid really was never too sure about these things, about peoples names. Was what they said really a persons true name? She of course didn't introduce herself by her actual name of Mariah, nope, it was just Astrid all the time. She'd gotten so used to being called Astrid that when one did know her birth name, the name on her birth certificate and all her bills, she didn't really register that they were talking to her. It wasn't that she disliked her actual name, it was just that when she'd first stepped out on her own she'd turned to things that she wasn't exactly proud of, she hung out with people that she wouldn't be caught dead with now, and she didn't want them all knowing her by her name. It was odd but true.

A hand lifted and between two manicured nails she caught hold of a single blue dread. She laughed a little bit as she twirled it around her finger "Nope. Fake" she said, giggling just ever so slightly. It seemed that whenever she met someone new they asked about her hair. To be quite honest it was probably why she kept it. Probably why she continued to spend so much time dying her hair a color to match her dread falls and then taking the billions of hours to put each one in. It was a great conversation starter, not to mention she actually rather liked the way that they looked on her. With out them she felt like a nobody.

The woman watched the interaction between the friendly girl and her dog and she couldn't help but smile. She'd seen people disgustingly close to their dogs before but this was different. It was almost as if the dog was another person. It seemed to be so the way that she talked to him, as if he might just answer her. She grinned, sort of reminded her of herself and Vye, her four foot long ball python. She talked to that snake as if she might sprout legs and arms and start walking around and talking. Her mother found it particularly odd, on occasion worried about her daughter and her relationship with the snake but in the end it wasn't doing any harm to anyone, now was it?

Mind stopped wandering and eyes fell onto the other again. She offered a smile as she reached forward, grabbing her drink from the table top, bringing it to her lips again. She swallowed the hot liquid before taking another sip, taking time with each one, savoring every bit. The cup was returned to the table and she looked to the dog "What's his name?" she asked curiously, tipping her head to the side. She really hoped it was a boy, how embarrassing would it be to refer to such an intelligent dog as one gender when it was actually the other. It was as if she expected the dog to take offense. She shook the thoughts from her head, looking between the dog and it's master, smile still in place on gloss covered lips.

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Word count: 555

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